Category Archives: Animals

Andy, Animals, Baby Got Rack, Contests, Flowers, Football, Holidays, Iowa State, Kio, Linda, Macro, Michelle, Micky, Mom, Nature, Pastor Sarah, Photoshop, Shannon, Teresa, Travel, Vest

Freedom and Flowers

July 4, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

With freedom, books, flowers, and the moon, who could not be happy?
-Oscar Wilde

Before we get into the meat of today’s blog, we need to start with…

Happy 4th of July!

I hope you had an continue to have an enjoyable 4th of July!

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Time to hit up the back log and publish more pictures from Donna Jones’s flower bed!

There are more of Donna Jones’ flowers in the hopper. For those of you that are fans of “flower porn” as Micky likes to call it.

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The votes have been tabulated and these are the photos that I will be entering in the Boone County Fair:

Technically there was a frog picture that got more votes than the picture of Shorty, but I’m not going a photo contest without entering a black & white image.

Thanks to the people that voted: Sarah Karber, Michelle, Micky, Vest, Mom, Teresa, Shannon, Kio, Aunt Linda, Jordan, Andy, and all of the fellow SmugMuggers that voted.

If you want to see the photos in the flesh (so to speak) they will be on display at the Community Building at the Boone County Fairgrounds. on July 21 and 22.

Baby Got Rack will also probably be competing on July 21. So mark your calendar!

We will do something similar when it comes to the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest.

9 Emotions Project, Animals, Bethany, Black & White, Contests, Flowers, Formal Portrait, Macro, Nature, Travel

The 9 Emotions Project – Bethany

July 3, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

Reminder, tonight at midnight is the deadline to vote on what pictures I enter at the Boone County Fair Photo Contest. Click on the link below to vote:

If the website isn’t working for you, email/text me your votes.

BOONE COUNTY FAIR PHOTO CONTEST ENTRY SELECTION

You must have a Facebook account or a Google+ account to vote. You vote by leaving a comment on a photo. You can vote for up to 5 photos.

If the website isn’t working for you, email/text me your votes.

Here are the currently leaders:

There are several pictures that are tied for the last 2 spots.

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Bethany was the most recent victim… subject of THE 9 EMOTIONS PROJECT. She is the 23rd person to participate in the project. I always have my eye on the next person to participate in the project. I can think of at least 3 people that have claimed that they were interested, but have yet to full under the aperture blades.

If you want to be #24, just contact me and we will get you on the calendar.

Bethany’s sitting was unique in the fact that I was experimenting with a new lighting set up for her session. She was a good sport.

Bethany – The 9 Emotions

In case you have forgotten, these are The 9 Emotions:

Joy

Sadness

Anger

Amusement

Fear

Jealousy

Surprise

Sympathy

Boredom

Hopefully I’ll publishing #24 very soon.

If you want to see past THE 9 EMOTIONS PROJECT subjects, click on the link below:

THE 9 EMOTIONS PROJECT

Maybe you’ll be inspired!

Angie, Animals, Carla, Cathie, Contests, Kim, Macro, Nature, Photoshop, Shannon, Tamara, Vest, WPC - Submissions

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 146 – BLACK

July 2, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

If you are having difficulty leaving a comment, just email/text me the numbers.

Reminder, you have until Tomorrow at midnight to vote on what pictures I enter at the Boone County Fair Photo Contest. Click on the link below to vote:

BOONE COUNTY FAIR PHOTO CONTEST ENTRY SELECTION

You must have a Facebook account or a Google+ account to vote. You vote by leaving a comment on a photo. You can vote for up to 5 photos.

If you are having difficulty leaving a comment, just email/text me the numbers.

As of this writing, there have been about 25 votes. Here are the currently leaders:

If future votes don’t change things, these will be the 5 photos that I enter in the Boone County Fair Photo Contest.

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It would seem that BLACK inspired a few people to crack out their cameras this weekend.

But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about participation rates, you came to see the submissions:

Carla Stensland

Kim Barker

Tamara Peterson

Christopher D. Bennett

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Cathie Raley

Mike Vest

Angie DeWaard

A solid week of submissions!

But enough dwelling on the past. Time to look to the future. We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future! This week’s theme:

HANDS!

HANDS! What a great theme! But what is a HANDS picture? A picture that features HANDS! That is it! But remember that there is more than one definition of the word HANDS.

I look forward to seeing your interpretation!

HOUSEKEEPING

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION

1. The picture has to be taken the week of the theme. This isn’t a curate your pictures challenge. This is a get your butt off the couch (my personal experience) and put your camera in your hands challenge. Don’t send me a picture of you next to the Eiffel Tower, when I know you were in Iowa all week. I will point out that I have let that slide some in the past. I will not in the future. Since it is literally about the only rule.

2. Your submission needs to be emailed to bennett@photography139.com by 11 AM on the Monday of the challenge due date. It should be pointed out that this blog auto-publishes at 12:01 on Mondays. So it wouldn’t hurt to get your picture in earlier.

That is it, them’s the rules.

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION DIVISION

Nobody showed class, taste, and sophistication this week by signing up for a Photography 139 email subscription. I’ll try and do better next week.

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That’s all I got for today, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will commune right here again next Monday. Hopefully it will be a very handsy Monday.

Animals, Art, Black & White, Contests, Flowers, Formal Portrait, Photoshop, Road Trip, Saydie, Travel

Congratulations Saydie – Epsilon

July 1, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

Reminder, you have until next Tuesday at midnight to vote on what pictures I enter at the Boone County Fair Photo Contest. Click on the link below to vote:

BOONE COUNTY FAIR PHOTO CONTEST ENTRY SELECTION

You must have a Facebook account or a Google+ account to vote. You vote by leaving a comment on a photo. You can vote for up to 5 photos.

As of this writing, there have been about 20 votes. Here are the currently leaders:

There are several pictures that are tied for the last 2 spots.

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Time once again to check in with everybody’s favorite 2018 high school graduate, Saydie!

Here is a quote from Maya Angelou I came across that is good advice for young people getting around to taking on the world:

I encourage you to live with life. Be courageous, adventurous. Give us a tomorrow, more than we deserve.

Despite all the current evidence to the contrary, I still believe in tomorrow and I hope it is a better tomorrow than we currently deserve.

More images from Saydie’s senior picture photo shoot:

We are over halfway through the Saydie pictures now. I’m already sad to see them go.

Animals, Becky, Blogging, Event, History, Jaycees, Music, Nature, Shannon

05-31-08

June 30, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

The photos in the folder 05-31-08 are quite unique. They include photos of Duff flooding. There are also photos of the first Ames on the Half Shell event I ever worked. There are also a couple of bonus images of some groundhogs that used to live behind the Computer Mine.

The flood and the Ames on the Half Shell both happened on the same day. The band that played that night was Redzband. They were kind of a generic classic rock cover band. This is basically the template for bands that played Ames on the Half Shell, at least back in the day.

Here is the funny thing (and don’t tell Shannon because she will think that I’m getting soft) looking at the Ames on the Half Shell pictures actually made me kind of nostalgic. I definitely wasn’t expecting that, but I think I’ll survive.

Here are the pictures:

There are more pictures from Ames on the Half Shell out there. If you want to check them out, click on the link below:

Ames on the Half Shell – 2018

By adding these images to the Photography 139 Gallery, I was able to restore the following historic “An Artist’s Notebook” blogs to their original glory:

Redzband

More from Friday

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve Nader. Lots of Nader. Also some real cheeseball Photoshop. Exactly how I like it!

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Reminder, you have until next Tuesday at midnight to vote on what pictures I enter at the Boone County Fair Photo Contest. Click on the link below to vote:

BOONE COUNTY FAIR PHOTO CONTEST ENTRY SELECTION

You must have a Facebook account or a Google+ account to vote.

As of this writing, about 20 votes have been cast.

Animals, Candid Portrait, Contests, Mission Trip, Self-Portrait, Vacation, WPC - Alternate, Youth Group

My Life Is A Mess, Better Watch Your Step When You Step In It!

June 27, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

The world wasn’t ready for these SELF-PORTRAIT pictures last Monday, mostly because I was in Vidor, Texas. The world also wasn’t ready for them this Monday.

I’m not sure the world is ready for them now, but I can’t hold them back any longer:

You’re welcome world!

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Reminder, you have until next Tuesday at midnight to vote on what pictures I enter at the Boone County Fair Photo Contest. Click on the link below to vote:

BOONE COUNTY FAIR PHOTO CONTEST ENTRY SELECTION

You must have a Facebook account or a Google+ account to vote.

Animals, Art, Black & White, Flowers, Iowa State, Macro, Mom, Naima, Nature, Railroad, Road Trip, Ruins, Shorty, Travel, Willy

Boone County Fair Photo Contest Entry Selection Process

June 26, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

It is time to select my photos for the Boone County Fair Photo Contest and you get to help select the pictures that go.

I have placed 50 images in a SmugMug Photo Gallery. I would like you to go to that Photo Gallery and vote for up to 5 images in the gallery. You can also rate the images on a 5 star scale.

I will enter the 5 pictures with the most votes. The tie-breaker will be image with the highest star rating.

You will vote for an image by leaving a comment on the image you want to vote for.

Once you are at the gallery, look for something that looks like this:

The one caveat is that you need to have either a Facebook or a Google+ account to leave a comment.

Click on the link below to go to the gallery to vote:

BOONE COUNTY FAIR PHOTO CONTEST ENTRY SELECTION

The deadline to vote is next Tuesday at midnight.

Here are the nominees:

Thanks for helping pick the Boone County Fair Photo Contest Entries!

Alexis, Animals, Art, Black & White, Nature

05-19-08

June 23, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

The pictures in the folder were from the folder 05-19-08. They were taken on my birthday, as the artwork by Alexis might reveal.

I don’t recall everything I did on my birthday that day, but I know for sure I went to Jester Park.

Jester Park is one of my favorite parks that I don’t visit nearly enough. Not anywhere nearly enough.

By adding these images to the Photography 139 Photo Gallery, I was able to return the following historic “An Artist’s Notebook” post to its original glory:

Mt. St. Helens Anniversary

The next time we stroll down memory lane, it will involve a flood and a rock concert.

Animals, Black & White, Flowers, Macro

Happiness Shared

June 19, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

Happiness held is the seed; happiness shared is the flower.
-John Harrigan

Another look at more of Donna’s flowers. This is more like a quick peek. Maybe even a very quick peek.

Some coneflowers involved in this small collection:

There are plenty more of Donna Jones’ flower waiting to be unleashed on the world.

Animals, Black & White, Flowers, Macro, Photoshop, Russell, Work

A Blossoming Soul

June 12, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

Every flower is a soul blossoming in nature.
-Gerard De Nerval

Last time we took a look at the flowerbeds of Donna Jones, I said that I felt that I had taken a step away from flower photography back in 2017. Russell, who hates flower pictures the way some people hate cats or reality television texted me to call poppycock on such a statement. He would go on to ask how many flower photos I took last year.

It is just a very rough estimated, but I bet it was only 2,000. Definitely no more than 2,000. Possibly as low as 1,500.

He wanted to know how many I normally take. I can only estimate that number, but I bet it is closer to 5,000.

I think Russell appreciated the downturn, but I feel he still thinks that 1 flower picture is one too many.

Below, enjoy some of Russell’s pain:

At the Computer Mine we have a photo bar next to the kitchen. Once a year they changed out the photos to display the work of employees. I always submit one photo because I personally feel that the photo bar should represent as many employees as possible. I’m considering submitting one of the grasshopper photos for my submission.

If any of you out there are the anti-Russell, don’t worry. There are plenty more flower pictures just waiting to bloom. This year might be a flower photo boom. Well probably not a boom, but have I mentioned that my hollyhocks are back!!

I’m excited too!